Nick Eastwood
Nick Eastwood, Heat Pump Technical Manager at Secon, explains how the energy price caps can make swapping to a heat pump beneficial.
With the current situation of soaring energy prices and the impending energy price cap rise, with another to follow in October, conserving and limiting energy use has never been more important.
It has always been generally acknowledged that running on mains gas was the cheapest way to heat your property, this situation is starting to change with the review of the energy price cap.
|
Average Capped Rates |
|||
|
Current price cap |
New price cap |
Unit Rate Increase |
|
|
Gas |
Unit rate: 4.07p per kWh |
Unit rate: 7.37p per kWh |
81% |
|
Electricity |
Unit rate: 20.8p per kWh |
Unit rate: 28.34p per kWh |
36% |
"Suddenly, switching from a gas boiler to a heat pump becomes a more attractive option"
This means currently on a site with the annual energy use of 20,000kWh, considering a gas boiler at 92% efficiency and a heat pump with a SCoP of 3.91, it would cost an estimated £928 to provide the energy by mains gas and £1,125 for a heat pump under the existing energy cap. However, under the new energy price cap these figures change to £1,680 on mains gas and £1,533.91 for a heat pump. As an aside, oil would be approximately £2,411 per year
Suddenly, switching from a gas boiler to a heat pump under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme becomes a more attractive proposition. Add to this the fact that the October price cap will operate under a similar structure with higher increases on gas and lower on electricity and it is highly likely the results could shift even more in favour of heat pumps.
*Energy price data taken from www.moneysavingexpert.com on 14th March 2022